Are you pregnant again after having preeclampsia once already in a previous pregnancy? Post your thoughts/concerns here - there are others who share your feelings. This is also the home of our Bedrest Buddies Support group.

Wow it's so good to read everyone's posts-I am due 3/9/13 with baby #2. I had an eclamptic seizure with baby #1 in December 2009 at 42 weeks. We both came through fine except for my significant PTSD-he was 9 lbs 4 oz. I had a planned homebirth and symptoms of PE at 41 weeks (at which point I visited this website and learned more!)-specifically headaches. My BP was high for me but not super-high...like in the 130s (top #) or so. The midwife dismissed it, told me I didn't have PE, didn't do a urine dip, and 5 days later after 24 hrs of labor at home I seized in my bed and went unconscious. Came to, EMS transferred me to hospital, had C section after 8 more hours.

Three years and loads of therapy later, here I am...pregnant again. This time with loads of much better support. Consulted 3 different MFMs before I got pregnant, and currently seeing the one who my midwife (wonderful woman in part of OB/Gyn practice I've been going to for over 10 years, though I transferred out last time when I wanted to have the home birth) recommended. The MFM is awesome, and more knowledgeable about PE than any I spoke with over this past year. His mentor used to be on the board of this forum, apparently.

I am taking at his rec a low-dose aspirin. I also want to take 1500-2000 mg of calcium (also his rec), but am having some difficulty with this because I don't want to take too much magnesium or vitamin d (one of which is in every calcium supplement I've found so far). Last week I accidentally took way too much magnesium because of taking calcium supplements in addition to my prenatal-I was scared when I realized and called poison control. I spoke with both my docs the next morning and they said don't worry, just take calcium that doesn't have magnesium added-but I can't find any! Does anyone have experience/suggestions with this? Also, I want to take enough magnesium to absorb the calcium, but not too much. My MFM didn't have magnesium recs, but online I found things saying don't go about 350 mg if you're pregnant.

Anyhoo, just got back to work yesterday (I'm a teacher) and told the powers that be I'm pregnant...they were super supportive, and it turns out my new boss had PE with her daughter and had to deliver at 28 weeks. I couldn't believe it-she totally understood and has been there. I am so better supported this time-my boss the last time was horrible.

My chat with them brought it all up again, though-I woke up at 3:30 AM and have been up for the last 2 hours. Old grief combined with gratitude for where I am now, plus anxiety about this calcium thing. Some trepidation about what's to come. And I have my Nuchal fold Translucency sono today...some anxiety about this because I'm almost 42.

So glad to find you ladies-it feels so amazing to know that other women out there understand and that we can support each other in this mysterious landscape.

Eclamptic seizure in labor 12/1/09, age 39. Son born very healthy at 42 weeks and 9 lbs 4 oz via C section. PE had been suspected (by me) but not diagnosed by homebirth midwife. Pregnant again with #2, due 3/9/13.

Well I am 16 weeks along and so far so good. Trying to stay calm, relaxed and positive . We had our first visit with perinatologist friday and I loved him! All of our measurements looked great , bp good and we found out we are having a GIRL!! We are thrilled. I know the scariest times are ahead for me, I believe I had signs of preeclampsia at about 22 weeks deleverd at 26 weeks so, here I come hoping for ,well hoping for nothing to happen at all but a healthy pregnancy!! Gulp!

Benjamin Spider Reeves born 4-28-2010( 1lb 6oz 26 weeks to severe pre-e and Iugr) we lost you after 4 long months in the NICU. You fought so hard,and were so brave.Our first baby .We miss you everyday and love you forever xo

Expecting ,dreaming, and hoping for our baby Girl sometime in January 2013

Raposa you reminded me, I was going to ask my OB if I should have a blood pressure machine at home to check it... I will have to ask at my 15 week check up. I think I would become BP happy and start taking it all the time

lita24 Congratulations on being pregnant - how exciting.

cgoodi1 i had a similar situation to you, I felt off since 23 weeks and called the hospital with my systems all they said was just mention them to my OB when I saw him next. I did tell him during my visit, gave him all the standard symptoms he just told me the flu was going around and I was possibly coming down with that. At 27 weeks my mum had enough of me looking so sick and feeling worse she took me to the chemist where my blood pressure was 180 /120. I scared the chemists, they did it 5 times with 2 machines and 3 different people because they couldnt believe it - told me to go straight to hospital. When I called the hospital to say I was coming in they just said why would I make a decision to go get my blood pressure taken without their or my OB's recommendation and that I was being over cautious but if I felt like I needed the reassurance then just come on in...
within the hour I was having steroid injections and being prepared for an ambulance trip to a bigger hospital.
I think we know our bodies better then anyone else - they should listen to us

I'm glad you've got doctors who are really alert and you like. That's so important!

I have my monthly MFM appointment Wednesday. Going to take in the home BP monitor to be recalibrated if they can. The thing can't measure me properly, so I haven't been using it. It's frustrating because I'd like to be able to spot check myself for those times when I feel weird, to see if it's blood pressure or just tired/migraine/low blood sugar, y'know?

1st son, induced at 37 weeks due to pre-e, born 6/18/10.
2nd son, c-section at 37 weeks due to hypertension, born 1/15/13.

I too am pregnant with my second after having severe preeclampsia with my first. I have not yet had my first doctor's appointment, but my EDD is 4-13-12. I am looking forward to keeping in touch.

Be encouraged and try not to stress/worry!! Trust me, I know how hard this can be.

Baby #1 born at 30 weeks, weighed 2 lb 11 oz. due to severe preeclampsia, classic C-section, I had pulmonary edema. He spent 52 days in the NICU, he is now healthy & full of energy!!!
Baby #2 due 4/13/13.

Hi again. I'm not sure if I will be on bedrest or not. I guess they're going to wait until I'm a bit farther along and see how my tests go. At my appointment at 4 weeks one of my doctors said she's hoping I get to stay at work for at least half of the pregnancy. I hope I can hold out as long as possible. With my last pregnancy, it was rough from the very beginning. I began gaining weight rapidly right at the beginning and it was certainly not due to overeating since I was so nauseous. By week 10 I was 20lbs heavier and at week 21 40lbs heavier. I remember at Christmas mom got me new shoes and by January they no longer fit! My swelling was horrible. At my 18 week ultrasouns the baby was measuring two weeks behind and I was questioned about my conception date with the doctors asking me if I was sure about when I conceived. We had only tried that once so I definitely was positive! Around week 17-18 I would wake up at night with bad pains in my upper chest. I thought I was dying and it was bad enough to bring me to tears. My doctor ignored all of the signs, I'm guessing because it was my first pregnancy (maybe she thought I was a complainer) or because I was so early in my pregnancy (pe usually only occurs after week 20 and usually in the third trimester). Either way I know the difference now. With the weight gain she told me to watch out with the sweets, for the baby measuring behind she said she'd request the ultrasound from the hospital and have a look herself (don't know if this happened) and for the pain she prescribed me heartburn meds which of course didn't work. I actually google diagnosed myself with preeclampsia and went to the hospital where I was admitted right away. Pretty sad. This time around I am monitoring myself very closely. I take my blood pressure every so often now and have a really god sense of my normal pressures. I'm presently taking materna, extra folic acid, calcium, vitamin D and started lda at 6 weeks (2 days ago). I go back for an appointment at 8 and 1/2 weeks and will start low dose heparin then. The placental pathology showed that the placenta was much more mature than it should have been with many areas of calcification (which happens a lot in the case of pe). This is why the baby was probably smaller and were not getting the nutrients and oxygen needed. My doctors said even though I have no clotting disorders that I'm a good candidate for lda and heparin because new studies are showing that not only does the heparin help with clots but it also helps veins and arteries to expand and not be as constricted. I'm really trusting my new doctors and doing whatever they think is best. I'm very hopeful that this time around will be different for me. I very much want to bring a baby home for me and my husband to care for

Wow, I am excited that so many others are due to the same time I am and I will keep all fingers and toes crossed that we can all make it to full term without any excitement. Boring pregnancies all around I say.

I have read many different theories on supplements to take to help reduce the likelihood of repeat PE however my OB today said the only proven theories that cannot hurt are taking Calcium tablets and a low dose aspirin so I am now to take those daily with a good multivitamin.
She also ordered a huge list of blood tests (13 viles of blood) to check that I do not have any long term side effects from my last experience of PE and to also get a base line reading for all future results.

She was an amazing help to talk to and making me so relaxed my anxiety didn't affect my blood pressure and I had a reading of 115 /70. She also did a quick ultrasound but the bub was moving too much to even get a photo for measurements.

I have my 12 week ultrasound in 2 weeks (they wanted me to be 12+ weeks) and another appointment on the 17th September.

I am glad I made the decision to go to a bigger hospital now because they seem to be more cautious and know the severity of PE.

I know they say PE doesn't generally occur in the second pregnancy but I have read too many stories to think otherwise... and as this pregnancy progresses I think I will stress more and more (not good I know).

I would love to keep in touch with everyones progress and hopefully celebrate a lot of births in February and March next year x

sorry to hear you have to begin worrying so early on. Is there anything you can do to counteract the protein spilling? are you expected to have bedrest? I hope you make it to all the necessary milestones in order to have the baby.
I was curious about when you feel your symptoms begun in your last pregnancy (and what these were). I begun swelling on my feet probably right at 14 weeks, and by week 20 was wearing slippers 2 sizes bigger. I also had shortness of breath by week 14, but all these were just regarded as "normal signs of pregnancy" (unfortunately).

I'm only 5 weeks and stressing already! I have orthostatic proteinuria which means I already spill when I'm up moving around or sitting but I don't spill protein when I sleep. Already knowing I have some proteinuria makes me worries. My last pregnancy my pregnancy symptoms showed themselves so early and in this pregnancy I don't have any. It makes me worried. I constantly think about losing this little one and I'm praying so much it doesn't happen. I have an appointment Aug 29th to start heparin shots and I'm starting lda this Friday. I had pe and hellp symptoms around 18 weeks and swelling even earlier. I'm praying I don't have to go through it all again!

Ladies,
I'm in the same boat! I'm due in March. I'm 37 and this is my second pregnancy. With my first my bp started creeping up at around 22 weeks along with major swelling in my feet. At 37 weeks I got a severe headache and the doctor just put me on bed rest and I was monitoring bp at home. My bp got up to 170/92 and they finally admitted me at 38.5 weeks. I had no protein in my urine just a bad headache and high bp. My doctor was sooooooo laid back about it he didn't put me on mag. I ended up having an eclamptic seizure. Luckily I was able to give birth to a healthy boy. I still have some memory problems but I'm thankful we are both here and ok.

So, with that said I am very anxious with this pregnancy!!! I have moved so I will be seeing a new doctor in a few weeks and I will not allow any symptoms to be minimized this time. Does anyone have advice in that area? I just learned about MFMs through is site so does my obgyn need to refer me or how does that work? Are there specific tests I need to ask for? I've already ordered a bp monitor for home and protein strips just in case.

Also, anyone else feeling scared? I'm overweight still and after reading that pre-e could be an indicator for future heart disease I'm wondering if I should have gotten pregnant at all. Have any of you seen a cardiologist? I have a family history of heart disease so I'd like to get it all checked out.

Sigh. I'm not supposed to be stressing this much already right?? Lol I just want to prevent and control as much as I can.